US stocks managed to hold modest gains Wednesday after a series of economic reports led by better-than-expected data on jobless claims kept the mood positive ahead of the Thanksgiving Day holiday.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average drifted up 30.69 points (0.29 percent) to close at 10 464.40, its best closing level since 2 October 2008.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq composite rose 6.87 points (0.32 percent) to 2176.05 while the Standard & Poor's 500 index added 4.98 points (0.45 percent) to 1110.63.

Market action came after a series of economic reports that sent mixed signals to traders. Trading was quiet with many participants absent ahead of Thursday's holiday.

One report showed initial claims for US jobless insurance benefits plunged to their lowest levels since September last year.

The adjusted number of new unemployment claims in the week ending November 21 decreased by 35 000 to 466 000 from the previous week's revised figure of 501 000.

Other data showed US incomes rose 0.2 percent and consumer spending jumped 0.7 percent in October, helped by a rebound in auto sales. A third report showed orders for durable manufactured goods fell 0.6 percent in October.

"Both the personal income and spending, and initial claims, reports produced positive surprises," said Patrick O'Hare at Briefing.com.

"The durable orders data was disappointing, but a sizable upward revision to the prior month neutralized the weak October reading."

The market gained momentum after data showing a 6.2 percent rise in new home sales.

"Housing is coming back and should continue to add to growth going forward," said Joel Naroff at Naroff Economic Advisors. "I don't expect any boom to occur but further small steps would be good news."

Fred Dickson at DA Davidson & Co said the market is churning to digest its gains but with a positive bias.

"Historically, the trading session before the Thanksgiving holiday, which for many will extend through Monday, produces small gains in the equity market as traders pull in some of their short positions," he said.

"Looking beyond the Thanksgiving holiday season, we expect the stock market to spend most of December consolidating recent gains with periods of short rallies and small pullbacks, but remain closely hinged to the movement in the dollar in the currency markets."

Among key stocks, Microsoft fell 0.40 percent to 29.79 dollars after the software giant announced the departure of chief financial officer Chris Liddell.

Bristol-Myers Squibb gained 1.95 percent to 25.65 dollars after the pharmaceutical group said the sale of a stake in Mead Johnson baby products would result in a gain of more than 7.6 billion dollars.

Retail shares were in focus as the key holiday shopping season approached. J Crew rallied 7.83 percent to 44.05 dollars after announcing better-than-expected quarterly earnings.

Luxury retailer Tiffany climbed 4.92 percent to 43.89 dollars after it reported solid earnings and boosted its outlook for 2010.

Bonds firmed, with the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond easing to 3.279 percent from 3.317 percent Tuesday and that on the 30-year bond at 4.238 percent from 4.257 percent. Bond yields and prices move in opposite directions.

AFP

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